. >> obama has talked about -- he phrased it as breaking the fever, i think, at one point. this sort of solid wall of adamanting opposition to any sort of tax rate increase ever in the house has been seen as a problem to him from day one. and coming off the election, he's in a stronger political position than he's been in before. his incentive is not to rush into the room, his strength is out among public opinion where that's friendlier terrain for him. whereas once they get in the room, of course, republicans still have power, still have control of the house. >> yeah. >> so there's no great incentive for him to rush to compromise at this point. >> gene, why is -- why is raising the top marginal rate so important to the president as well as liberals across america? why -- explain why the is that so important? >> well -- >> and i'm talking specifically the top marginal rate. not taxes on the rich. because the rich have been skating by for too long. i've said it it's immoral that billionaires pay 14% while people that do their lawns pay 28%. that's immoral. but why is the top